Saturday letters: The Ebola message

Copyright 2014: Houston Chronicle |
August 8, 2014

The cartoon "60% mortality" (Page B7, Wednesday) depicting Centers for Disease Control employees saying they're confident that Ebola is nothing to worry about but moving away while people are coughing is misleading and not factual. Ebola virus is certainly an issue in West Africa and a humanitarian concern to those of us in countries not experiencing the outbreak.

However, we are not at risk of the spread of Ebola in the United States. The virus is not spread by coughing or simply being around someone infected. Direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids from someone exhibiting symptoms of Ebola is required for infection to spread from one human to another.

In the United States, unlike the affected countries, we have the public health infrastructure to prevent this contact through universal precautions, barrier nursing practices and isolation units.

Scientists believe that the virus is spread from fruit bats to non-human primates and humans through the hunting and eating of bush meat or other contact with these animals. Fruit bats do not live in the U.S., and we do not have a tradition of eating bush meat. Another factor contributing to the spread of the virus from human to human are cultural practices in which the family of the diseased washes the body and gets it ready for burial, thus allowing spread of Ebola should the patient have died from that disease. We don't have that practice in the United States. Lack of understanding of viruses and superstitions regarding disease also are at play.

In summary, we do not have any of the conditions that have led to spread of Ebola virus in West Africa, so there is no threat of an outbreak in the U.S. While I appreciate a good cartoon, this one is misleading and could lead to undue panic.

Regarding "Galveston lab at epicenter of push to find Ebola cure" (Page A1, Aug. 2), the report describes the National Laboratory in Galveston as the only one to be rated as Level 4. It states that "Most of an entire floor is jammed with equipment to filter the air and ensure that the air pressure is lower inside the building than outside so that particles cannot escape through vents."

This may lead readers to believe that the virus is airborne, and my understanding from my own research is that it's not. UTMB pathology professor T.G. Ksiazek is quoted later in the article, saying "Ebola can be transmitted only through contact with bodily fluids and is easily controlled with modern medical techniques." These two portions of the article seem to contradict each other. More important, they could cause confusion and ultimately add to the growing hysteria and fear of an Ebola epidemic in the United States.